Improvement in hem ming-gui des



G. L. JENCKS. Sewing Machine Gui de and Hemmer. No. 32,519. Patented June 11, 1861.

N. PETERS. PhctoLithugnpher- Wuhington. nc.

UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

GEORGE L. J ENGKS, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEMMING-GUIDESL Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 32,519, dated June 11, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LGEORGE L. JENcKs, of

Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hemmers for Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following specification, with the drawings hereto annexed as part of the same, to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure l in'the said drawings is a side view of my hemmer attached to the pressure-pad of a sewing-machine. Fig. 2 is a like view of the hem mer detached. Fig.3 is a plan of the hemmer and pressure-pad. Fig. 4; is an end view of the hemmer. Fig. 5 is a plan of the hemmer detached in the act of turning a narrow hem. Fig. 6 is a plan of the hemmer in the act of turning a wide hem, in connection with well-known parts of a sewing-machine.

Similar letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.

In those hemmers or hemming-guides which have hitherto been applied to sewing-machines it has been ascertained that unless provided with some means of adjustment they are confined in their operation to turning one width of hem in one class of goods exclusively, and when provided with means of adjustment so much skill and experience are required to place the parts in proper relative position that such instruments have been rejected as useless.

The object of my invention is to provide an instrument which may be applied to all sewing-machines for turning hems, running tucks, felling seams, and stitching in every variety and thickness of goods without requiring a special adjustment of its parts to change it from one kind of work to another, thus presenting the said instrument in a useful form to the inexperienced operator.

My invention therefore consists in the peculiar arrangement or method of uniting three flexible metallic fingers-which constitute the effective part of the instrument--relatively with each other, whereby the said fingers adjust themselves by an elastic action to the different varieties of work to be performed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Thestock dof the hemmeris form ed as shown in the several figures of the drawings, and is secured to the pressure-pad E of a sewing-ma- .metallic fingers, 1 2 3, which are arranged upon the stock as follows: Finger 1 is fixed at one end to the projection t of the stock. The other end is loose and extends with an upward inclination past the end of the stock, terminating in a fluke, 4, extending at right angles from said finger, and, curving down at the end, rests upon the stock. The fluke 1' forms the entrance or mouth of the hemmer, and serves to lay the cloth fiat as it enters therein, and to determine the width that shall enter to form the hem.

Finger 2 is fixed beneath the loose end offinger l to a projection upon the stock, and the loose end extends toward without meeting the fixed end of finger 1. a The loose end of finger 2 pinch es the cloth slightly as it passes between it (finger 2) and finger 1, which gives position to the cloth and directs it beneath the needle.

Finger 3 is fixed to the fluke r at the loose end of finger 1, and curves downward and extends sidewise beneath and terminating near the end of finger 2, and, thus arranged, serves to fold the loose edge of the cloth beneath that portion which passes between fingers l and 2. It will be observed that in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings fingers l and 2 extend from their fixed end in opposite directions, and that the loose end of each terminates near the fixed end of the other; also, that finger 3 is fixed to the loose end of finger l; and from being thus arranged the loose end of finger 1 yields to the passage of the cloth at the fixed end of (2) finger 2, and the loose end of finger 2 yields to the passage of the cloth at the fixed end of finger 1, and the loose end of finger 3 yields to the passage of the cloth with the counter action of finger 1, as shown in Fig. 2. Ac-

cordingly, if a thicker or thinner fabric is in- I are adapted to the exigencies of the work by troduoed to the hemmer, the fingers preserve the same relative position and act with the same effect, but most forcibly upon the thicker fabric; and if a seam or any other irregularity presents itself the loose ends of the fingers separate from the opposite fixed end of the other in turn, thereby permitting such seam to pass, after which the fingers resume their natural position.

I am aware that similar fingers or tongues to those shown and described herein have been previously employed, as will be ascertained by reference to the patents of L. \V. Serrell of May 11, 1858, and of November 22, 1859, in which, however, the arrangement of the fingers or tongues differs essentially from that above described, and the fingers or tongues means of screws and other adj nstments, which render the machine complicated and otherwise objectionable, which,in the arrangement which constitutes my invention, I have successfully overcome. 1 therefore disclaim the invention of the fingers or tongues, either separately or in combination, for the specified purpose; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The peculiar arrangement or method, substantially as described, of uniting the fingers l 2 3 upon the stock of a pressure-pad, for the purpose specified.

GEORGE L. JENGKS. lVitnesses:

ISAAC A. BROWNELL, H. P. TILLINGHAST. 

